EKAT BORK (CH)

Ekat bork (CH)

Her new album “YASДYES”exemplifies that strength of character. Translating from the Russian as “I Am Here Now”, it is not music for the faint-hearted. Departing from the soft, strung out, lush production of her acclaimed debut “Veremellious”, this is dark, deep, electronic, subversive... and yet soulful. Her voice seduces and commands, dominating the pulsing machines, pounding drums and searing guitars that surround her. It comes from somewhere ancient and mysterious. It is the release of pent-up energy, barely contained and often erupting with heart-wrending, volcanic, visceral power in thirteen autobiographical songs.

Written on her travels across Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Germany and Portugal, these tracks never surrender to convention or pander to populism. The music is rhythmic, serrated, sensual, unnerving, created by a woman who has battled all her life and is afraid of nothing. Each track challenges the listener, demanding that you raise your game. They are moments of her life stripped bare, “Naked to love” as she says in the first single, “Red Sektor”. They are raw expressions of her feelings and they are not easy listening. “Only those who want to will hear,” she says. When asked to describe each song she dismisses the idea. “It’s up to you to hear what I am saying, to describe it in words.” She adds, “Listen to my song Zhazhda, ‘I want you hear me more...’.”